The invention relates to a conveyor for hot material comprising a conveying means that is covered over at least a portion of its length by a housing, and that is connected to a material delivery means, whereby provided in the housing that covers the conveying means are introduction devices for applying water to the hot material that is disposed on the conveying means.
A hot material conveyor having the aforementioned features is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,579. To the extent that such a hot material conveyor is used for the conveying and simultaneous cooling of directly reduced iron, especially in the form of pellets produced in a press, suitable measures prevent the hot material, i.e. the hot pellets, from coming into contact with air or oxygen, so that oxidation is prevented during the conveying and cooling process. For this purpose, U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,579 proposes to supply water to the hot material over the entire length of the housed conveyor via suitable introduction devices, so that on the one hand the hot material is cooled off, yet at the same time evaporation of the applied water produces water vapor that in the housing that covers the conveying means forms an inert atmosphere for the hot material, so that an entry of air, and hence of oxygen, is avoided.
The known hot material conveyor has the drawback that the supply of water to the hot material is effected over the entire length of the conveying means, therefore also in the immediate vicinity of the material delivery means, in other words at a location at which the hot material has its highest temperature. Due to the thereby occurring, shock-like cooling of the hot material via the water that is applied immediately following the material delivery means, a mechanical stressing of the hot material results that can lead to impairment of the integrity of the individual constituents of the hot material, in particular of the pellets that are produced, which is a drawback with regard to the further processing of the material.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a hot material conveyor of the aforementioned type that ensures a careful treatment of the hot material.